Microsoft Goes Hard on Big Job Cuts: Cloudy Future

Don’t worry, Microsoft is in no danger of going away: what will go is thousands of jobs mostly in sales, mostly outside the US, mostly to benefit cloud growth.

Major financial news channel CNBC has confirmed Microsoft’s announcement of major job cuts as the company undergoes a “major reorganisation”.

Having failed in phones, leading to losses of billions of dollars and thousands of staff, the company seeks to refocus its efforts on cloud growth – specifically boosting its Azure offering.

It’s good to see Microsoft still has ways to make big money, especially after the raging ransomware scandal that has sullied Microsoft’s reputation of late.

CNBC reports around 3000 jobs will go, which is “less than 10%” of Microsoft’s global headcount (of 71,000 US employees and 121,000 globally), and while “about 75%” of the cuts will be in overseas sales staff, that still leaves 25% of American stuff set to get the chop.

Today, we are taking steps to notify some employees that their jobs are under consideration or that their positions will be eliminated. Like all companies, we evaluate our business on a regular basis. This can result in increased investment in some places and, from time-to-time, re-deployment in others.”

The Vergenotes Microsoft’s server and cloud revenue was up 15% in the last quarter, alongside Azure revenue which was up by 93%.

Still, it seems too many sales cooks spoil the profit broth, and with Surface sales as reported in April 2017 falling 26% (as reported in Engadget) and quarterly Surface sales still pitiful compared to iPad sales, it’s only natural that Microsoft turns to focus where it actually makes the real money.